University of Missouri, Columbia partner on population project

COLUMBIA — The city of Columbia and the MU are partnering on a project to develop a computer model that will predict population growth.

The university’s Community Policy Analysis Center will work with a community advisory panel to create a model aimed at forecasting how economic factors will affect the city’s growth.

It’s part of what assistant city manager Tony St. Romaine calls a smart-growth planning effort to determine what infrastructure the city will need to provide for its future population.

Currently, the city relies on information from the U.S. Census Bureau for population-growth estimates. Development of the new model is expected to cost $25,000, with the city and the university splitting the cost equally.